Growing Guide
 
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Iris, Siberian

Herbaceous Perennial Flower

Iris sp. Siberian cultivars
Iridaceae Family

Showy but easy to grow, Siberian Iris bears brightly colored, large blooms in shades of yellow, red, blue, purple, pink, white and orange. These plants are well suited to low-maintenance borders.

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Site Characteristics
Sunlight:
  • full sun
  • part shade

Soil conditions:

  • requires well-drained soil
Prefers well-drained, fertile soil.

Hardiness zones:

  • 4 to 9
Plant Traits

Lifecycle: perennial

Ease-of-care: easy

Height: 2 to 3 feet

Spread: 1 to 1.5 feet

Bloom time:

  • mid-spring
  • late spring
  • early summer

Flower color:

  • red
  • orange
  • yellow
  • blue
  • violet
  • white
  • pink

Blooms may be single colors or multicolored, with various markings and mixtures of color.


Foliage color: medium green

Foliage texture: medium

Shape:

  • upright
  • fan-shaped

Shape in flower: flower stalks with upright spikes

Special Considerations
Special characteristics:
  • deer resistant
  • non-aggressive
  • non-invasive
  • not native to North America - Product of horticultural selection. Parents native to Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey.
Special uses:
  • cut flowers
Growing Information
How to plant:

Propagate by division or separation - Divide in midsummer to fall. Replant only rhizomes that appear strong and healthy, discard others.

Maintenance and care:
Plant the rhizomes with their tops beneath the soil surface. Fertilize with low-nitrogen fertilizer when planting, and refertilize with low nitrogen fertilizer in the spring. Divide when the clumps become overcrowded. May require staking.

More growing information: How to Grow Perennials

Pests:
Iris borer
Verbena bud moth
Whiteflies
Iris weevil
Thrips
Slugs and snails
Aphids
Nematodes

Diseases:
Bacterial leaf blight
Bacterial soft rot
Crown rot
Rhizome rot
Leaf spot
Varieties
‘Ann Dasch’: 3’ tall plants with pale blue-purple blooms with darker margins. The falls are marked with yellow.

‘Anniversary’: 2 ½’ tall plans with white blooms, the falls marked with yellow hafts.

‘Bedford Lass’: 3’ tall plants with pale purple-blue ruffled blooms, with white and gold markings on the falls.

‘Butter and Sugar’: 2 ½’ tall plants with yellow-veined cream standards and yellow-veined yellow falls.

‘Cambridge’: 3’ tall plants with bright blue blooms, the falls marked with white and yellow.

‘Dancing Nanou’: 2 ½’ tall plants with ruffled blooms with pale blue standards with dark blue margins and blue-veined purple falls with brown and green hafts.

‘Jamaican Velvet’: 2 ½’ tall plants with rich wine/red blooms.

‘Jewelled Crown’: 2’ tall plants with rich wine colored blooms, the falls dotted with gold and white.

‘Lady Vanessa’: 3’ tall plants with pale wine colored standards, deeper wine ruffled falls.

‘Mabel Coday’: 2 ½’ tall plants with white-signaled, ruffled blue blooms

‘Pink Haze’: 2 ½’ tall plants with pale purple-pink blooms with violet hafts and violet striped falls.

‘Roaring Jelly’: 3’ tall plants with grayish purple standards veined with violet, reddish violet falls, and blue style arms with white signals.

‘Ruffled Velvet’: 2’ tall plants with reddish violet standards, deep violet ruffled falls.

‘Shaker’s Prayer’: 3’ tall plants with violet standards and yellow-hafted, purple-margined, pale purple veined white falls.

‘Shirley Pope’: 3’ tall plants with rich reddish violet blooms with white markings on the falls.

‘Sparkling Rose’: 3’ tall plants with rosy purple blooms, the falls marked with yellow basal spotting and purple basal veining.

‘Strawberry Fair’: 2 ½’ tall, late-blooming plants with berry pink blooms with pale blue style arms and white signals.

‘Super Ego’: 2 ½’ tall plants with light blue standards and white edged medium blue falls.

‘White Swirl’: 3’ tall plants with yellow based white blooms.

‘Wisley White’: 3’ tall plants with cream veined white blooms with yellow haft markings.